A panel such as a door panel and a bonnet of an automobile is conventionally constructed by integrating an outer panel on an outer side with an inner panel on an inner side. Such a panel is fabricated by a marriage process of overlaying the outer panel and the inner panel with each other by a panel positioning apparatus and a hemming process of integrating with each other the outer panel and the inner panel overlaid in the marriage process (see Patent Document 1).
Specifically, the panel positioning apparatus is provided with an outer panel supporting device for supporting the outer panel from a lower side, and an inner panel supporting device for supporting the inner panel from an upper side. The outer panel supporting device is provided with a placement section onto which the outer panel is placed, and a frame that is provided in a rotatable manner in the placement section and that extends to an outside along the surface of the outer panel. On a tip side of the frame of the outer panel supporting device, a through hole is formed.
The inner panel supporting device is provided with a holding section for holding the inner panel, and a frame that is provided in a rotatable manner in the holding section and that extends to an outside along the surface of the inner panel. On a tip side of the frame of the inner panel supporting device, a positioning pin is formed. The positioning pin can be inserted into a through hole of the frame of the outer panel supporting device.
The above-mentioned panel positioning apparatus operates as follows. First, a peripheral part of the outer panel is bent upward so that a bent part is formed. Then, the outer panel is placed on the placement section of the outer panel supporting device. Further, the holding section of the inner panel supporting device holds the inner panel.
Then, a marriage process is performed that the inner panel supporting device is moved so that the inner panel is overlaid onto the outer panel. At that time, the positioning pin of the frame of the inner panel supporting device is inserted into the through hole of the frame of the outer panel supporting device so as to position the inner panel relative to the outer panel and further prevent a deviation in the relative position of the inner panel relative to the outer panel.
Then, a hemming process is performed that a hemming device bends further the bent part of the outer panel so as to firmly stick the bent part to the peripheral part of the inner panel. Here, the frames of the inner panel supporting device and the outer panel supporting device are rotated such that these frames do not interfere with the hemming device. In this way, the outer panel and the inner panel are integrated with each other.
However, in the above-mentioned method, a device for rotating the frames is required to be provided in the outer panel supporting device or the inner panel supporting device. This causes a problem of size increase in the panel positioning apparatus. Further, the direction of insertion of the positioning pin into the through hole is fixed. Thus, in the marriage process, the direction of approaching of the inner panel to the outer panel is limited. Accordingly, depending on the angle of the bent part, a possibility arises that the edge of the inner panel interferes with the bent part so that